FREE Email Newsletter

Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals

Canoe has licensed BlackArrow Affiliate, the toolset from BlackArrow that enables programmers to manage ad avails in video on demand (VOD) services. MSOs can use BlackArrow Affiliate to schedule ad campaigns by criteria including day of week, time of day, and by program or series.

Cox Communications and parent company Cox Enterprises have stepped up to the plate to help customers that were impacted by the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City area on Monday. Cox is offering its TV Everywhere app outside of customers' homes in the affected area.

According to a recent study by Wi-Fi vendor Ubiquiti Networks, Wi-Fi users are generally pleased with how their networks perform in their hometowns, but not so much in their work environments. The study found that 48 percent of the users surveyed gave their Wi-Fi a “B” grade for its general availably and performance in their hometowns.

Authenticated Cablevision subscribers can now view Scripps Networks channels, including Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel, anywhere in the United States on their computers. Cablevision plans on offering the Scripps channels on additional devices at a later date.

FourthWall Media has added some heft to its MassiveData television viewership platform that delivers data and analytics from pay-TV viewers. MassiveData, which FourthWall launched last year, will bring the total number of viewers who provide set top box data to 4.7 million

Speaking in Canada, the Netflix CEO says his biggest challenge there is competition from the likes of Videotron, Rogers and perhaps the combination of Bell and Astral should that merger happen. Netflix recently published an 11-page letter to shareholders entitled "Netflix Long Term View," outlining how the company believes it will thrive in the years ahead at the expense of conventional broadcast TV.

Dish Network has updated its TV Everywhere app to include Android devices and more Apple iOS devices and integrated it with Facebook and Twitter. After previously working with just iPads, the satellite video company’s Dish Anywhere app is now live on Android devices (version 4.0 or higher) and all Apple iOS devices that use operating systems that are versions 5.0 or higher.

AT&T announced its new U-verse On Demand storefront this week, which was designed to improve the video experience for customers accessing the storefront on their televisions. The U-verse on Demand storefront features a new user interface (UI) for better navigation as well as colorful poster art to help viewers find content quicker.

The carrier Wi-Fi market continues to burn brightly as mobile operators are using it to offload the heavy traffic from their 3G and 4G networks. According to a recent report by Infonetics Research, carrier Wi-Fi equipment revenue, including carrier Wi-Fi access points and Wi-Fi hotspot controllers, increased 53 percent worldwide in 2012 from 2011.

Actiontec Electronics said it will be the lead developer of a new line of products incorporating Intel wireless WiDi designed to link laptops to TVs. WiDi is already built into Intel’s current Core processors, and the company said it has integrated the technology in its forthcoming fourth-generation Core processors as well.

In order to better serve its subscribers, Comcast is putting its collective resources into the New Jersey Shore area that was hit by Superstorm Sandy last year. Along the Jersey Shore communities, Comcast has upgraded 144 miles of its infrastructure and plans on offering new services in the area over the coming months.

SeaChange International announced that Stofa, the second-largest cable operator in Denmark, has signed a multi-year service and maintenance contract for its Adrenalin VOD services. The new deal built upon the existing relationship between the vendor and cable operator that dated back to 2007.

MoCA (multimedia over coax) has long since emerged as the home networking standard of choice for North American cable operators, but it’s also fueling the growth of the device market. According to a recent report by Infonetics Research, sales of set-top boxes with embedded MoCA technology grew 23 percent in the second half of last year while MoCA adapters increased by 129 percent.

Aereo said this morning that it was rolling its antenna and cloud-based TV service into the Atlanta area on June 17. Following tomorrow’s launch in Boston, Atlanta is the next stop on Aereo’s planned expansion into 22 cities this year.

Ahead of its launch in Boston on Wednesday, Internet TV startup Aereo announced today that it that it had restructured its pricing plan for new customers. Aereo said the new "streamlined" plan would be easier for customers to understand.

CableLabs, the cable industry’s research consortium, announced this morning that it had hired Tom Lookabaugh as its news executive vice president of research and development. Lookabaugh’s 20-year telecommunications career includes stops at ViaSat Communications, Entropic Communications and PolyCiper.

Al-Jazeera Sport Media Network’s beIN Sport launched a new streaming service today with Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks’ authenticated subscribers. The new service, which is called beIN Sport Play, will feature video content streamed in HD that is available on any broadband-connected PC, mobile device, or smart player

Starz has made its TV everywhere app available on Android handsets and tablets, including Nook HD, Nook HD+, and the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. Also, 3G/4G cellular access has been added to the service feature, giving Play users an additional connectivity option in addition to Wi-Fi.

Semiconductor vendor Entropic has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against ViXS that relates to its use of MoCA technology. ViXS responded by saying that Entropic’s patent infringement claim was entirely without merit and that it planned to defend itself.

Comcast’s Robert Pick, senior vice president of corporate development, joined ValueVision Media’s board of directors. ValueVision, which Comcast owns a stake in, is a multi-channel retailer that operates under the ShopNBC name.

Time Warner Cable has upgraded its TWC TV app for Android devices, which includes access to some content out of subscribers’ homes. Last month Time Warner Cable announced some of its VOD content and live programming were available to customers outside of their homes on Apple’s iOS devices.

Time Warner Cable’s Mike LaJoie, Cablevision’s Yvette Kanouff, Cox Communications’ Kevin Hart, and Buckeye Cablesystem’s Joe Jensen share their thoughts on some of the most prominent technological challenges they are dealing with today, and a few they might have to contend with tomorrow.

CED’s CTO roundtable has mined the thoughts of cable operator executives for years now, but this is the first iteration of a vendor CTO roundtable. CED narrowed the field to chief technical officers, or the equivalent, that play a part in the multi-screen ecosystem.

Service providers are transitioning to a multi-screen service model, offering subscribers access to media content at home and on the go across TVs, PCs, and mobile devices. These media mobility services remain annoyingly cumbersome today, but the industry recognizes the need to push forward and smooth out the wrinkles as quickly as possible.

With over a year at the helm of Charter Communications, Tom Rutledge’s vision for the nation’s fourth-largest cable operators is firming up across multiple fronts. Rutledge said on this morning’s first quarter earnings call that Charter’s all-digital conversion project and cloud-based user interface (UI) were two of the company’s biggest objectives this year.